Since 2012, VRHS Crew has grown from a team of 10 girls to a team of more than 35 girls and boys.

HISTORY OF THE CLUB

2012 - Coach John Laundon, a twenty-time U.S. Rowing champion, and six-time World Champion decided to coach both the Lyme-Old Lyme High School (L-OLHS) and Valley Regional High School (VRHS) teams.

2016 Head Coach John Laundon brought in Peter Charbonnier, Mike Ferguson, Emily Powers, and Dr. Raymond (Renny) Schoonmaker, a former Yale rower, to join the coaching the team. VRHS crew was still a small team of 15 girls, composed of mostly sophomore novices.

Parent Tracy LeMay partnered with Coach Laundon to build a sustainable Valley crew program. Including former Connecticut College coach, Bart Gullong. A lifelong rower, and a huge proponent of women’s rowing.

Tracy LeMay went to the VRHS athletic department and convinced the school to provide uniforms, higher stipends for the coaches, and formed the nonprofit VRHS Crew Booster Club.

Camp Hazen YMCA on Cedar Lake in Chester, became the new home for VRHS Crew. Laundon ordered sixteen Concept2 rowing ergs for winter conditioning, four new Hudson shells, docks were brought in from Maine, and the equipment trailer from the University of Massachusetts, which was fully refurbished by John Bogan of Essex.

2017 - With a new home on Cedar Lake and new competitive grade equipment, the growing team of 26 showed significant improvement in the 2017 Spring season. They finished fourth for the Perry Trophy in the Connecticut Public Schools Rowing Association’s (CPSRA) championship and competed in several New England Interscholastic Rowing Association (NEIRA) regattas.

Ashley Malinovsky, an OSHS crew assistant coach, was hired as the new OSHS Head Coach.

2018 VRHS students Nathaniel Hill and Zach Gilbert approached Coach Laundon to inquire about the possibility of boy’s crew. Thanks to their efforts 6 boys joined crew making the club Co-Ed.

2018 and 2019 the team continued to thrive growing from 34 to 44 rowers. The girls’ varsity boat placed third overall at the CPSRA championship regatta. The girls third boat, and boys and girl’s novice boats, also received medals. Tracy LeMay stepped down as booster club president at the end of 2019 season. Commemorating her service to the team, a boat was named for her. This is considered the highest of honors in the rowing world.

2020 - In the Spring of 2020 there was no crew season due to an international pandemic and statewide “lockdown”.

2021 - Crew slowly started back up with only two regattas for the season. This was Head Coach John Laundon’s last year with the team.

The international pandemic took a toll on the Old Saybrook High School crew program reducing its number of rowers down to two.

2022 - Coach John Laundon stepped down, and OSHS Head Coach Ashley Malinovsky was hired as the new Valley Head Coach and brought along OSHS crew members to join VRHS crew under one club banner. With 18 novice rowers in its ranks, the future of Valley Crew looked strong.

2023 - Valley Regional Crew is a Co-Ed club composed of twenty-nine rowers from VRHS and five from OSHS. One of only thirteen public school rowing programs in the state of Connecticut.

The club’s fleet has grown to ten shells of various age and condition for practice and competition, four electric motorized launches, and twenty Concept2 ergs for fall and winter training.

This year marks the club’s first in Deep River as guests of the Incarnation Center on Bushy Hill Pond. This year also marks the club’s first to go GREEN on the water. Prior to the beginning of the spring season the club converted the four coach launches from gas to electric. The new motors are not only environmentally friendly, but also run near silent, providing an added bonus of heightened communication between the rowers and the coaching staff led by Head Coach Ashley Malinovsky.

2023 Spring Season is Malinovsky’s second coaching crew for Valley. Malinovsky’s right-hand man is Assistant Coach and Technician Renny Schoonmaker. Coach Schoonmaker’s has been part of the club longer than anyone else. He literally keeps the shells in the water, he fixes the boats and brings a wealth of experience to our team. His knowledge of all things ‘rowing’ provides an alternate perspective to the rest of the coaching staff, Ian Sacks, Brandon Green and Lauren ‘Mac’ McAloon.